The latest agreement on the platform work directive brings less legal clarity than the status quo, and fails to give platforms and workers alike harmonised rules and protections across the EU's single market, Tomas Prouza writes for Euractiv.
EU labour ministers celebrated finding a common position on the politically sensitive platform workers file this week, after months of a complete freeze in negotiations. But refrain from the warm congratulatory words just yet: The EU is more split over gig economy regulation than you might think.
Uber and other platforms are lobbying against an ambitious EU directive on platform workers, Ludovic Voet, confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), writes as Uber Files whistleblower Mark MacGann is due to testify at the European Parliament hearing on Tuesday (25 October).
Without bold and fast action to transform the way we move around in our cities, we will be unable to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and air pollution, warn Anabel Diaz and William Todts, as ride-hailing firm Uber announces a new global zero-emission goal.
New mobility services like Uber and Lyft offer the potential to get cities moving, improve quality of life and reduce emissions. But this will only happen if new and traditional mobility services can be integrated to make a more attractive offering that finally persuades drivers out of their cars, write Greg Archer and Yoann Le Petit.
Sunday’s fatal collision between an Uber autonomous car and a pedestrian in Arizona shows that the regulatory environment in the US, as well as in Europe, is not ready for fully autonomous vehicles, writes Antonio Avenoso.
In Europe, innovative companies are often taken to court when their business model does not meet the established patterns, and this may prevent the EU from becoming a large common market for digital services, argues Žiga Turk.
Concerns that sharing schemes do not deliver a net reduction in car use are not supported by evidence, writes Greg Archer. Now, digitisation and the sharing economy provide an opportunity to reduce the number of vehicles in our cities even further, he contends.
The advent of the gig economy has brought fundamental changes to the way in which we access goods and services and turned traditional business models on their head. Denis Pennel considers its impact on employment and the likely implications for the future of work.
The European Union is the biggest economy and largest trading bloc in the world, yet our position in the global economy has been decreasing in relative terms. A fully integrated single market can help put us back on top, writes Joseph Daul.
For decades, workers in Germany, Europe and the United States have been the wealthiest in the world. That is about to change for the worse as America heads towards a "freelance society", writes Steven Hill.
Think Uber, Spotify, Netflix and Airbnb. New ‘Uber-like’ business models are now being embraced in the field of employment too, writes Denis Pennel.
